


something wonderful

by zero_miles



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Meet-Cute, Minor Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Kim Dongyoung | Doyoung, Strangers to Lovers, Yoga, seriously there is zero angst in this thing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-08
Updated: 2020-02-08
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:55:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22445182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zero_miles/pseuds/zero_miles
Summary: “So,” Johnny says after a moment. “Nice day out, huh?”The beautiful stranger huffs out a laugh. “Why don’t we skip the small talk in favor of you telling me your name instead?” he offers.(or: Johnny's a writer who's having a hard time finding inspiration to write, well, anything lately. A chance encounter with a beautiful stranger on a sunny afternoon changes everything.)
Relationships: Moon Taeil/Suh Youngho | Johnny
Comments: 31
Kudos: 250
Collections: Johnny Fic Fest: Round One, WIP OLYMPICS: WINTER 2019/20





	something wonderful

**Author's Note:**

> written for Johnny Fic Fest, prompt #JS017: Johnny is a well known author. He's trying to finish writing his newest book, but nothing he writes is enough and he feels as if his inspiration left him for good. One day, he meets person B, and as their friendship/relationship grows, Johnny's inspiration returns.

“Good afternoon,” Jaehyun says, leaning far enough back in one of Johnny’s kitchen chairs that Johnny’s slightly worried that he might tip over and crack his head against the counter. That would be unfortunate; not only would Jaehyun probably bust his head open, but it would also mean that Johnny’s homeowners insurance would probably go up due to a 'guest' being injured on his property. Both options are bad.

Johnny jumps and absolutely does not shriek, thank you very much. “What the fuck,” he says, grabbing his chest and taking a deep breath as he tries to calm his racing heart down. “Shouldn’t you be at work? And _stop that_ , you're gonna brain yourself,” he adds.

Jaehyun gives him what is potentially the blankest stare Johnny’s ever seen as he lowers all four legs of the chair back to the ground, which is saying something considering that he knows Doyoung. Maybe that thing about couples eventually looking and acting alike is true, because god knows Jaehyun hasn’t always been _this_ good at judging Johnny without even saying a word. “It’s Saturday, Johnny. And it’s almost one in the afternoon.”

“Oh,” Johnny shrugs, stepping around Jaehyun to turn his coffee pot on. “My bad. Where’s Doyoung, then, if it’s Saturday?”

“His students have a UIL competition today, so he’s in Fort Worth with them,” Jaehyun says, eyes going soft in that way that never fails to remind Johnny how painfully single he is.

Johnny wrinkles his nose. “Gross.”

“If I didn’t know your opinions on Fort Worth, I’d be offended on Doyoung’s behalf,” Jaehyun says mildly. “But you seriously didn’t know it was Saturday?”

“Obviously I did not know that if I thought you were supposed to be at work right now,” Johnny says, refusing to meet Jaehyun’s eyes.

Jaehyun hums knowingly. “And you just woke up like fifteen minutes ago,” he continues.

Johnny doesn’t answer, choosing instead to grab a mug out of his cupboard and pour himself a cup of coffee. There’s nothing he can say to defend himself right now, because god only knows how long Jaehyun’s been sitting at his kitchen table waiting for him to wake up. When his mug is full, he picks it up and leaves the kitchen.

Jaehyun makes a noise that sounds an awful lot like an offended squawk. “Your house isn’t that big, Johnny! You can’t hide from me!”

“I could if I really wanted to,” Johnny retorts, mentally congratulating himself when he manages to slide his back door open one handed. He bypasses his patio table in favor of sitting down at the edge of the pool, letting his bare feet slip under the cool water. 

Jaehyun joins him a minute later, sitting cross legged next to him and leaning his head against Johnny’s shoulder. “It’s bad, huh?” he asks quietly.

“Yeah,” Johnny sighs. He’s no stranger to writer’s block—no author is—but it’s been a while since it’s been bad enough that he loses track of time like this. “I didn’t mean to worry you.”

“I wasn’t worried. Doyoung just pointed out last night that neither of us had heard from you in a few days, so I figured checking in with you today wouldn’t be a bad thing.”

Johnny takes a sip of his coffee, grimacing a little when he remembers that he hadn’t bothered to put cream and sugar in it before leaving the kitchen. “I think I might have to ask for an extension on the first draft. They want me to have twenty-five thousand words ready by the end of the month and I don’t think I’ll manage that.”

“I don’t understand why your publisher still wants to babysit you through the writing process like this. You have, what, five best sellers now? They should trust you at this point.”

“Four,” Johnny mumbles. 

“My point still remains,” Jaehyun says, sounding like he’s beginning to work himself up. “They put so much pressure on you that you put all that pressure on yourself and it’s a never ending cycle. When was the last time you left the house?”

“Two days ago, I think,” Johnny says after a moment.

Jaehyun makes a dismissive noise. “Okay. When was the last time you left the house to go somewhere that wasn’t the grocery store or the bank?”

“Longer than that,” Johnny admits after a long moment. Honestly, he can’t remember when that was, which really just proves Jaehyun’s point.

“Why don’t you spend tomorrow outside of the house? Outside of your neighborhood, even?” Jaehyun asks. “You need a break.”

Johnny laughs a little. “Let me guess, if I don’t you’ll drag me out, right?”

Jaehyun nods solemnly. “I will even call out of work sometime this week to do so.”

“Aren’t you in the middle of preparing for a big trial?” Johnny asks.

“Yeah, but your mental health is more important than any trial,” Jaehyun says, grinning widely enough that his dimples pop out. “But I know it’s not going to come to that. Right?” he asks sweetly.

“Right,” Johnny says begrudgingly.

Jaehyun visibly relaxes. “Good. And hey, you might find something to inspire you tomorrow, you know.”

Johnny hums. That would be nice, but he doubts it.

* * *

Even though he’d slept in past noon the day before, Johnny manages to wake up and drag himself out of bed just before eight o’clock the next day. It’s a perfectly respectable time to get up on a Sunday, he thinks; Sunday is the day of rest, after all. Besides, the cute little breakfast cafe a couple of streets over doesn’t even open until nine AM on Sundays, and if Johnny has to spend the entire day interacting with strangers like a functional member of polite society, he’s not going to do so without getting waffles first.

Three hours later, stomach pleasantly full of waffles and whipped cream, Johnny pulls into the parking lot of the arboretum. It’s a really nice day out, the kind of late September day that reminds you that fall does, in fact, sometimes exist in Texas, and he wants to spend it outside instead of indoors somewhere. He’d briefly considered taking himself to the zoo, but had quickly ruled that one out when he’d realized just how overrun with families it would be on a day like today. The arboretum, on the other hand, shouldn’t be too bad—it’s too early yet for them to have their Halloween displays out, but too late in the season for engagement shoots. Or so Johnny hopes, anyway.

It doesn’t take him long to figure out that his gamble had paid off; there’s only a couple and their baby in front of him in line, and when the baby gives Johnny the tiniest little wave it makes him feel like maybe today is going to be the good day Jaehyun was hoping he would have. 

The slight breeze is refreshing, not irritating, as Johnny wanders along the paths and various exhibits. After a while, he makes the executive decision to bypass the children’s garden area in favor of heading to the scenic overlook close to the edge of the lake bordering the arboretum. It’s usually one of the quieter places in the entire park except on the busiest of days, and Johnny figures that looking out at the water with the Dallas skyline looming overhead isn’t a bad way to spend some time.

As he’d expected, the entire area is deserted save for a solitary person, sitting on a stone bench under one of the covered pergolas. As Johnny moves closer, he can see that the man is beautiful—he’s got a slight build and dark brown hair swept up off his face, and although Johnny can only see his side profile, what he can see is enough to have him stopping in his tracks to look at him a little longer. The man’s eyes are closed, his head tilted upwards towards the sky, and he’s got a slight smile on his face. Johnny doesn’t know what’s on his mind, but he _wants_ to know.

Johnny’s not always the boldest person, but for some reason he finds himself compelled to sit down on the opposite end of the bench from the beautiful stranger even though he can clearly see at least three other unoccupied benches. “Mind if I join you?” he asks, the words coming more much more gruffly than intended.

The man doesn’t startle like Johnny had been afraid of. Instead, he opens his eyes slowly and turns to face Johnny. The smile on his face widens after a moment, and he nods. “Not at all.”

“So,” Johnny says after a moment. “Nice day out, huh?”

The beautiful stranger huffs out a laugh. “Why don’t we skip the small talk in favor of you telling me your name instead?” he offers.

“Alright,” Johnny says, smiling over at him. “I’m Johnny. You?”

“Taeil,” the stranger says, holding out a hand for Johnny to shake. “What do you do for a living?”

Johnny laughs out loud at that. “Forward, are we?” he asks, charmed despite himself.

Taeil grins. “Why not? You obviously sat down next to me for a reason, and you’re pretty damn hot. I’d definitely like to get to know you a little more while we’re both here.”

“You’ve got a point,” Johnny allows. “I’m a writer.”

Over the years, Johnny’s learned to be vague when it comes to what he does for a living. If he tells people he’s an author, he either gets pitying looks from people who assume he lives up to the whole ‘starving artist’ stereotype or people who jump to the right conclusion, that he’s successful at what he does, and start making all sorts of demands from him. Neither experience is fun, and _writer_ is vague enough that it’s technically true (the best kind of true, in Johnny’s opinion) but completely open to interpretation.

“Nice,” Taeil says, leaving it at that. Johnny appreciates it. “I’m a yoga instructor.”

Johnny’s eyes widen involuntarily. “No way.”

Taeil laughs, and it sounds like music to Johnny’s ears. “Yes, way. Why does that surprise you?”

“Because you’re kind of tiny, honestly,” Johnny says bluntly, giving Taeil a once-over. Even though they’re sitting down, Johnny would absolutely place money on Taeil being a good six inches shorter than he is. He also seems like he’s pretty slim, but he’s wearing a pretty loose-fitting long sleeved shirt, so it’s not out of the question that he’s got some muscle definition hidden from view at least. 

“That’s actually a benefit,” Taeil tells him. “If I was a giant like you, I wouldn’t be nearly as flexible as I am now.”

Johnny’s brain shorts out at Taeil casually mentioning just how flexible he is. “Oh,” he manages.

“Yeah,” Taeil snickers. “Why don’t you come to one of my classes and see for yourself? I’ll even let you come to your first one for free.”

It feels like Taeil’s challenging him, and Johnny’s never met a challenge he wasn’t willing to tackle head-on. “Alright, I’m in. When and where?”

“Tomorrow morning at five thirty. My studio’s near the Galleria.” The twinkle in Taeil’s eye tells Johnny that he _knows_ that he’s throwing down the gauntlet, but doesn’t care. Johnny can appreciate that in a person. Besides, the Galleria’s like twenty minutes from his house in normal traffic conditions; that early in the morning, it probably won’t even take him fifteen minutes to get there.

“That’s really early,” Johnny protests, even though he’s already made up his mind to go.

Taeil hums and taps his finger against his chin. “If you show up, maybe after class is over we can go grab breakfast. I know a few places that are really good close by.”

“Sold,” Johnny says, probably too eagerly. He doesn’t care, though. “Will you text me the address?”

The grin on Taeil’s face is downright devious. “Nah. I have a business card,” he says, reaching into the back pocket of his jeans and pulling out his wallet. “Here.” The card is a deep purple, with whimsical white font on it that Johnny immediately kind of wants to use on one of his book covers one day. 

“Thanks,” Johnny says dryly, pocketing the card. “I’ll be there.”

“You better be,” Taeil says, standing up and confirming Johnny’s theory that the other man is half a foot shorter than him. “I have to go now, but I’m expecting you. Don’t disappoint me!”

As Johnny watches him walk away, he thinks that disappointing this man might just be the last thing he ever wants to do.

* * *

Johnny had been right yesterday afternoon when he’d predicted that it probably wouldn’t even take him fifteen minutes to arrive at the address that had been printed on Taeil’s business card; it takes him fourteen minutes even with hitting every possible red light on the trip. And no, he hadn’t set out to time the trip either—it just kind of happened, probably because he pulled out of his driveway at 5:01, but whatever.

He’s not sure what he’s expecting when he arrives, but he’s pretty sure that a half full parking lot _isn’t_ it. _What kind of crazy person wakes up well before the sunrise like this for physical activity without some kind of ulterior motive?_ Johnny asks himself as he crosses the parking lot. But then again, he reasons, Taeil’s the one teaching this class. That had been enough for Johnny to drag himself out of bed at an ungodly hour this morning, so maybe it is for others as well.

Taeil’s sitting on the front desk when Johnny pushes the front door open, and his face splits into a grin when he realizes just who had walked in the door. “Johnny! You made it!”

“I said I would, didn’t I?” Johnny asks, trying hard to keep his eyes on Taeil’s face and not his thighs, currently on full display in the tightest pair of leggings Johnny’s ever seen. 

“You could have been full of shit. It’s not like I know you enough to know otherwise,” Taeil shrugs, but he’s still grinning. “Nice to see you’re a man of your word, though. I like that in a person.”

Johnny rubs the back of his neck and chuckles awkwardly. “I try,” he says lamely. “It was kinda short notice though, so I didn’t get a chance to get like, pants or a mat or anything.”

Taeil waves a hand dismissively. “We have extra mats for that exact purpose, and your shorts are fine,” he says, giving Johnny’s lower half the least subtle once-over Johnny’s ever seen. “If you decide to sign up for a lesson plan after today, I’d definitely recommend getting a mat of your own, especially with your height, but it’s no big deal just for today.”

“If you’re sure,” Johnny says doubtfully.

“I am,” Taeil smiles, pushing himself off the desk. “Follow me.”

The room he leads Johnny to is bigger than Johnny had been expecting. It’s brightly lit, with benches on one side of the room and a mirror comprised entirely of walls on another. There are about fifteen people spread out across the room, some looking much more awake than others. “You can put your shoes and wallet and stuff under the bench. We have cameras in here, and you’re the only person who hasn’t signed up for a membership yet in the room, so I promise everything is safe,” Taeil tells him quietly. “I’ll grab you a mat out of the storage closet while you do that, alright?”

Johnny nods. “Pick me out a good spot,” he says. It’s a joke, really, but when he comes back from toeing off his shoes and socks and tucking his wallet and keys safely inside of them, there’s an unoccupied mat laid out directly in front of Taeil and the shorter man’s watching Johnny with the same challenging look in his eye that had compelled Johnny to come to this class in the first place.

“Figured you could probably use a close up view of the poses since it’s your first time,” Taeil tells him innocently.

“Well, even if I embarrass myself, I’ll have a good view,” Johnny retorts, deciding that two can play this bold, flirty game that Taeil seems to be so fond of. He’s rewarded by the faintest of blushes, one that probably wouldn’t be visible if not for the fluorescent lights above them, spreading across Taeil’s high cheekbones.

The class itself is about what Johnny expects. Taeil turns down the lights and turns on some gentle music before they begin, and leads them through a series of poses that remind Johnny of a wave when it’s all said and done—they start off easy, slowly building in intensity until it reaches a crest, at which point Taeil guides them back down in a way that makes Johnny think of how the ocean laps at the shore during low tide. He has no doubt that it could have been much more intense, but he figures that this is probably either a beginner’s class or one that’s meant to be pretty chill, like a way to ease yourself into the day ahead. Either way, Johnny’s kind of grateful; he’s just athletic enough that he’d managed not to make an utter fool out of himself, although it had been a close call at one point.

Johnny rolls up the mat, following the lead of others in the room, and then waits patiently for Taeil to finish chatting with the few students who’d gone up to him after class after he slips his shoes back on. He waits mostly because he has no idea if the storage closet is locked, but also because he’s, you know, hoping that Taeil had been serious when he’d said they could go out for breakfast if Johnny came to his class this morning.

God, Johnny hopes Taeil was serious.

Luckily for Johnny, Taeil doesn’t make him go through the agony of finding the words to ask. “I bet you’re hungry, huh,” Taeil says, looking a little smug, when he takes the rolled up mat out of Johnny’s arms. 

“I could eat,” Johnny says nonchalantly.

Taeil grins again. “Give me ten minutes to lock up here, and we can go. There’s a place right around the corner, so we can walk there and everything.”

“Is this the only lesson of the day?” Johnny asks curiously, following Taeil back out into the main lobby. “Is that why you’re locking up?”

“Nah,” Taeil replies. “There’s two other instructors that work here—one of them is my roommate—but the next class isn’t until nine and it’s not even seven yet. There’s no point in me sticking around until he gets here in an hour or so, especially when my next class isn’t until this afternoon.”

“Makes sense,” Johnny says, more out of a need to not let the conversation die than anything else. “Do you teach classes this early every day?”

Taeil shakes his head. “Only on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. The instructor who isn’t my roommate handles it on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and we don’t have classes that early on the weekend because who wants to wake up that early on the weekends?” he asks. “At least during the week most people are contractually obligated to do so.”

“I haven’t woken up this early since my best friend got married last summer,” Johnny admits, grinning sheepishly when Taeil laughs out loud at that. “I’m not really a morning person.”

“I’m honored that you decided I’m worth getting out of bed early for, then,” Taeil tells him as he pulls a hoodie over his head, and Johnny can’t detect anything but sincerity in his tone. “You ready?”

Johnny nods. “Lead the way.”

The ‘place Taeil knows around the corner’ turns out to be McDonald’s, and something about the look on Johnny’s face when Taeil turns off the sidewalk to head up the path leading to the front door makes Taeil laugh at him again. It doesn’t feel mean, so Johnny’s not offended. Then again, he’s a little too confused to be offended, he thinks.

“Not what you were expecting?” Taeil teases.

“Not even a little bit,” Johnny admits, reaching out to pull the door open for Taeil.

“I could probably eat a dozen hashbrowns all by myself,” Taeil tells him. “And like, McGriddles, dude. Plus it’s cheap. What more could you ask for?”

He’s got a point, Johnny allows as he follows Taeil up to the register. Not about the money thing, not really where Johnny’s concerned anyway, but definitely about the hashbrowns. It’s why he orders two when Taeil turns to look at him expectantly, plus a bagel and egg sandwich with a coffee, and he’s so distracted by the approving smile that Taeil gives him that Taeil’s able to pull out his credit card to pay for both of their meals before Johnny can protest.

“I wanted to pay,” Johnny definitely doesn’t pout once they’ve settled into a booth together.

Taeil drums his fingertips on the table. “I invited you out, so I paid. But, you know, if you want to do this again sometime…” he trails off, looking and sounding nervous for the first time since Johnny had met him—god, had Johnny seriously only met him yesterday? It feels like longer already.

“Like, Wednesday morning?” Johnny asks. “I could probably wake up at four in the morning for you again, yeah. But I’m picking where we go afterwards,” he adds.

The smile Taeil gives him in return nearly takes Johnny’s breath away. “Sounds good to me.”

* * *

True to his word, Johnny comes back on Wednesday to Taeil’s early morning yoga class, even going as far as to sign up for a membership before the class even starts. Considering that the choices are to either pay twenty dollars per drop in class or a hundred dollars for unlimited classes for an entire month, it seems like a good investment, especially when the second breakfast date goes as well as the first one had (and yes, Johnny’s calling them dates in his head; it’s impossible not to when Taeil flirts with him as much as he does).

Friday morning, Taeil gives Johnny a considering look once the studio clears out after class. “You know how you signed up for our membership on Wednesday?”

“Yeah,” Johnny says, frowning a little. “Should I have not...done...that?”

Taeil shakes his head. “No, no, it’s not about that! Trust me, I’m glad you did,” he says quickly. “It’s just. When my roommate came in later that morning and input your info into our system, he recognized your name. Apparently he’s a pretty big fan of yours.”

“Oh,” Johnny breathes out. “Gotcha. Um, I wasn’t going to keep that a secret from you forever or anything like that. It just tends to get really awkward when I tell someone I just met that I’m, uh—”

“Famous?” Taeil offers.

Johnny huffs out a laugh. “I wouldn’t necessarily call myself _famous_ or anything like that, but I can’t think of a better word to use right now.”

“I get it, though. Some people can be shameless,” Taeil reassures him. “But just so you know, it’s still my turn to pay for breakfast today, famous author or no.”

Johnny recognizes that statement for what it is—a reassurance from Taeil that him finding out what Johnny does for a living and making the logical connection that he’s probably pretty well off changes nothing between them, without outright saying so and making the situation awkward. It’s smart, really, because they both know exactly what’s being said without having to actually say the words, and Johnny truly appreciates it.

“Fine, but I’m driving us there if we can’t walk there,” Johnny tells him.

“Since you probably can’t fit in my car, I’ll allow it,” Taeil agrees, picking his keys up off the front desk. “Let’s go. I’m hungry enough that I could probably eat a horse.”

“Dramatic, but I feel you,” Johnny laughs. “Hey, you said your roommate’s a fan of my stuff, but what about you? Have you ever read any of my books?” he asks curiously while Taeil locks the front door of the studio behind them.

Taeil wrinkles his nose. “Nah. I tried once when Yuta was raving about, uh, the one with the doctor? But bleak introspectives on modern society or potential post-apocalyptic future societies aren’t really my thing, no offense,” he says, glancing up at Johnny apologetically.

“None taken. They’re not for everyone,” Johnny says genially. Especially Johnny’s stuff—his books can get seriously depressing at times. Enough so that Doyoung generally refuses to read them despite being one half of Johnny’s most important support system, but that’s what Johnny has his editor and Jaehyun for.

“Yeah, no, they’re not,” Taeil says, relieved. “If you wrote like, romantic comedies or historical fiction or something, it would be a different story—and that wasn’t intentional,” he whines when Johnny cracks up at the pun. “Puns are the lowest form of humor.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. Puns are the height of comedy,” Johnny contradicts him, stopping in front of his truck. “This is me.”

Taeil looks up at his truck with a look of horror. “Oh my god,” he says, faint. “I don’t even know if I can get in.”

Johnny figures he probably deserves the kick in the shin he gets for bursting into laughter at that. It’s not like Taeil kicks him very hard, anyway.

* * *

Just before noon on Sunday morning, Johnny boots up his word processor for the first time in a week with a grimace. When Jaehyun had suggested that Johnny take a break from writing for a little bit to see if that would help his writer’s block, he doubts that Jaehyun had meant for him to take an entire week off. But then again, Johnny doubts that Jaehyun would be _displeased_ that he did so, either—he and Doyoung are constantly telling Johnny that he needs to take an actual break from writing sometimes, since Johnny being lucky enough to write for a living doesn’t mean that he has to devote almost all of his time to doing so.

The thought of opening his current WIP document makes Johnny feel a little sick, since he still has absolutely no earthly idea how to make any progress on it, so he decided to open a blank document and just start writing to see what happens. It’s a trick he’d learned from a professor he’d otherwise hated back in university, but he can’t deny that the man had some good tips for aspiring creative writers (even if Johnny would probably rather die than admit that to anyone else ever).

For the first time in probably months, staring at a blank page in his word processor doesn’t seem like a daunting task doomed to failure to Johnny. Instead, it feels like the start of something new. Johnny smiles to himself before pressing start on the classical music playlist he favors when he needs white noise in the background.

“No pressure,” he murmurs. “I just need to write and see what happens. That’s nothing. I can do this,” he continues, nodding firmly to himself. Then Johnny starts to write.

When Johnny’s stomach growling angrily at him finally pulls him back to reality, he realizes with a start that nearly eight hours have passed and he’s managed to write nearly seventeen thousand words between the main word document and the outline he’d started hastily putting together in a separate file when he’d realized at some point that maybe this was an idea that could actually go somewhere rather than simply languishing on his hard drive once he’d successfully managed to break his previous writer’s block.

Johnny leans back in his chair, eyes wide. It’s been years since he’d managed to write this much in one sitting, back when he’d first started working on the book that had broken through and turned him into something of a household name. He can’t help but laugh incredulously as he skims through what he’d written. It’s rough, and it’s nothing like what he normally writes—it’s lighthearted, it’s humorous, and it’s obviously going to have a truly happy ending instead of the bittersweet at best endings that he’s become known for over the past few years—but it’s _good_ , in Johnny’s opinion.

When Johnny shows Jaehyun the word document the next night, Jaehyun agrees.

“This is nothing like I’ve ever seen you write before,” Jaehyun muses. “Like, ever. Even back in high school you wrote depressing shit. Since when do you write happy stuff?”

Johnny shrugs. “Don’t know,” he says, but his mind goes straight to Taeil. He’d gone to yoga class and then out to breakfast with Taeil again this morning, and had had to bite his tongue multiple times to keep himself from asking the other man out on a date. Like, a real one, maybe complete with a candlelight dinner if he lets Johnny pull out all the stops, or a cliche movie date if he decided to keep it low key. He’s not sure they’re at that point in their—relationship?—yet. Sure, Taeil flirts with Johnny, but maybe he’s a naturally flirty person who’s just looking for a friend. God knows that Johnny’s a natural flirt; it’s gotten him in a sticky situation more than once in the past.

“Earth to Johnny,” Jaehyun says, waving a hand in front of Johnny’s face.

Johnny shakes his head, blinking up at Jaehyun, who’s looming over him worriedly with his iPad clutched securely in his hand. “Sorry,” he says sheepishly. “My mind wandered off a little bit there.”

“No shit,” Doyoung snorts. “Did you seriously write something not completely soul crushing for once?”

“Well. Yeah,” Johnny shrugs. “A little bit, anyway. I actually think you’d probably like it, if you wanted to read it.”

Doyoung gives Jaehyun a questioning look, which Johnny can’t blame him for. The last time he’d voiced the thought that maybe something he was working on wasn’t quite as depressing as his normal works, Doyoung had ended up flinging the tablet he was reading it on down to the ground after maybe fifteen minutes with tears in his eyes. He stopped trusting Johnny’s assessment of his own books after that, which was probably fair.

Jaehyun nods, holding the tablet out. “You actually would like it, Doie. Or at least, it won’t hurt your feelings.”

“Hmm,” Doyoung says, accepting the tablet from Jaehyun. He skims through the first page or two, then stands up and wanders in the direction of Johnny’s back door. Johnny’s not offended—he knows that Doyoung prefers to read in solitude, anyway.

Jaehyun takes Doyoung’s vacated spot on the couch next to Johnny. “I know there’s something going on you’re not telling me,” he says quietly.

Johnny winces. “I’m sorry,” he says, genuine. “It’s...I don’t know. You know when something potentially really good happens and you kind of want to keep it to yourself for a little bit?”

“Yeah,” Jaehyun says, smiling. “Like when I first met Doy—oh my god,” he says, eyes widening. “You met someone?”

“I hope I did,” Johnny says, and then ends up spilling the entire story to Jaehyun. They’ve been friends for so long that Jaehyun knows how to get Johnny to bare his entire soul to him with just a look, a power that he (thankfully) very rarely uses.

Jaehyun leans back against the couch cushions when Johnny finishes, grinning. “Well. You’re welcome,” he begins.

Johnny groans. “Please don’t.”

“Nope, I have to. Imagine if I hadn’t convinced you to stop being a hermit for one day! You might have never met this Taeil guy, and you wouldn’t have written something that won’t break my husband’s heart for once. I’m going to have to thank him for that when I meet him.”

“When?” Johnny asks, surprised.

“Yes, _when_. Ask him on a real date. He won’t say no, dumbass.”

“Why are we calling Johnny a dumbass?” Doyoung asks, returning inside.

Jaehyun shakes his head. “Tell you later, babe. What did you think of Johnny’s book?”

“It’s not a book,” Johnny protests.

“Not a book _yet_ ,” Jaehyun corrects him. “Doie?”

Doyoung sits down on the edge of Johnny’s coffee table, passing the iPad back to Johnny with something akin to stars in his eyes. “It’s so good. I want to read the rest, so you better write it quickly.”

Johnny blinks. “Seriously? You’re not just saying that?”

“I legitimately think it has the potential to be the best thing you’ve ever written,” Jaehyun says seriously, using the no-nonsense tone that has judges and juries alike eating out of his hand so often. “You need to finish it and send it to your publisher.”

“What if my publisher hates it?” Johnny asks worriedly. There’s a reason why most authors stick to one genre, after all.

Doyoung gives him a sympathetic look. “Honestly, Johnny? If your publisher doesn’t want to publish something as good as this, then it’s time for you to find a new one.”

Next to Johnny, Jaehyun nods, and Johnny looks down at the tablet in his hands. “Alright,” he says after a minute. “I’ll keep working on it and see what happens.”

“And you’ll ask out the yoga instructor too,” Jaehyun tells him.

“Yoga instructor?” Doyoung asks interestedly.

“Yoga instructor,” Jaehyun confirms, smirking. “Johnny?”

Johnny sighs. “And I’ll ask out the yoga instructor, too,” he confirms, and can’t help but smile when Jaehyun whoops excitedly.

Taeil, for his part, grins wickedly when Johnny asks him out when they part ways after breakfast the following Friday.

“I’ve been waiting for you to ask, you know,” he tells Johnny, eyes crinkled up in delight. “I was about to run out of patience and just ask you myself.”

“Why didn’t you?” Johnny asks, genuinely curious.

Taeil’s grin shifts into a smirk. “Honestly? You strike me as the type of guy who loves the romance stuff. So I didn’t want to deprive you of being the one to ask, but _man_ , you sure did cut it close.”

“Oh,” Johnny says, flustered. It’s true, but it doesn’t mean that he’d been expecting Taeil to be able to read him so well already. “Well. Does that mean you’ll let me take you out on a super romantic date on, say, Sunday night?”

Taeil taps his chin, pretending (or so Johnny thinks, anyway) to be deep in thought. “Well. Alright. I suppose I can do that,” he says, voice light. “If you think you can pull it off in like forty-eight hours,” he adds, challenging. 

Seriously, how does he _know_ just how to push Johnny’s buttons in the right way like this? Johnny wonders. Not that he’s complaining—this is what he’s been looking for—but it’s. Something else. Something wonderful. “Oh, I can,” he agrees. “Just you wait and see.”

* * *

Three weeks and four dates later, Johnny’s got a ninety-thousand word manuscript that he’s self-edited a little bit. Jaehyun’s offered to read it over for him before he sends it off to his publisher as well, but Johnny’s refused. Jaehyun’s trial is next week, which is part of it, but—but Jaehyun can’t be the first one to read this one. He just can’t.

The further Johnny’s gotten into writing this manuscript, the more aware he’s become that the reason this storyline is coming so easily to him is because the main character is basically Taeil. It had been a borderline terrifying realization at first, since Johnny’s generally gone to great lengths to avoid basing any of his characters on people he knows personally (probably because his characters usually suffer quite a bit, and Johnny hates the idea of any of the people close to him suffering for any reason) but it had been too late to change it by then. But the main character is undoubtedly Taeil, and before Johnny goes any further with this, he needs Taeil to be okay with it.

So Johnny presses a flash drive into Taeil’s hand on a Friday morning and says, “I need you to read this. It’s nothing like anything I’ve ever written before,” he assures him, “and it’s not done. If you don’t like it, I can trash it. Just read it and let me know, okay?”

Taeil frowns, a confused look on his face. “Why?”

Johnny sighs. He’d been expecting that, but he doesn’t know how to explain himself. He doesn’t know if he can. “I think...I think if you read it, you’ll understand,” he tries. “Trust me?”

“Okay,” Taeil nods slowly, fingers closing around the flash drive. “I’m kind of a slow reader though, so it might take me awhile. Is that alright?”

“Yes,” Johnny says, even knowing that any kind of wait is going to feel like torture.

Since Taeil had warned Johnny that reading the manuscript would probably take him a while, it means that Johnny isn’t expecting much when Taeil calls him Sunday afternoon.

“Are you home?” Taeil asks, sounding a little...breathless?

“Yeah,” Johnny says, frowning a little bit. “Why? What’s up?”

“I need your address. I—I read the book,” Taeil says. It’s not an explanation, not really, but at the same time it’s all Johnny needs to know.

Taeil shows up on his doorstep about twenty minutes later, with the flash drive Johnny had given him two days before clutched in his hand and an unreadable expression on his face. Johnny's heart sinks.

"Did you hate it?" he asks, closing the door behind Taeil. "Because like I said, if you did, I can trash it and no one will ever know it existed."

Taeil gives him an incredulous look. "You wrote a book for me."

"I—yeah. Pretty much, yeah," Johnny admits.

"We've only known each other for like six weeks, and you wrote a book for me," Taeil says again, almost like he's talking to himself instead of Johnny.

"If it helps," Johnny starts, "I didn't realize I was doing it at first. And by the time I did, it was too late for me to turn back without deleting the entire draft. Which, like I said, I'm still willing to do if you want me to. Please don't be mad."

Taeil barks out a laugh. "Mad? Johnny, do you think I'm mad?" he asks incredulously.

Johnny grimaces. "Maybe? I thought you were at first, but I guess I'm maybe reconsidering that," he admits anxiously. He really just needs Taeil to be clear with him right now, but he doesn't want to push him, either.

"You're infuriating sometimes," Taeil tells him, but before Johnny can parse out just what the fuck exactly Taeil means by that, he's being shoved against the wall forcefully enough that the pictures on the wall shake.

"Whoa," Johnny breathes out. He shouldn't be surprised that Taeil's strong enough to shove him around, what with the almost daily yoga and all that, but he kinda is.

It's also pretty fucking hot.

Taeil rolls his eyes and says, "I'm not mad at you, you dumbass," and kisses him.

They've kissed before. Obviously. They're grown adults who have been on countless dates by now. But they haven't kissed like _this_ before. Taeil's kissing him like he would devour Johnny whole if he could, and right now Johnny thinks he would let him.

When Taeil pulls back after a sharp bite to Johnny's lower lip and looks up at him, his lips are red and swollen and his eyes dark. Johnny swallows audibly, certain that he doesn't look much different.

"So you're not mad, then," Johnny jokes. Or tries to, anyway; it's a lot less effective when his voice cracks like a teenager's halfway through the statement.

"No, I'm not mad," Taeil confirms, grabbing Johnny by the hand and lacing their fingers together. "Let me show you just now not mad I am, yeah?" he adds, giving Johnny an absolutely wicked little grin.

And, well. Who is Johnny to refuse an offer like _that_?

* * *

The next day, Johnny finds himself pacing back and forth in front of Jaehyun’s desk in his cramped office. He’s bumped into both the desk and the bookshelf tucked into the corner multiple times, but the nervous energy running through him won’t let him sit down, let alone be still.

Jaehyun, for his part, is theoretically reading through a motion of some sorts, but Johnny knows that he’s not truly paying attention to it and is instead waiting for Johnny to start talking. Sure enough, Jaehyun sets the file down the second Johnny manages a, “Jae.”

“Yeah?” Jaehyun asks, all of his attention focused squarely on Johnny.

“I think I’m in love with him,” Johnny rushes out.

Jaehyun smiles. “Congratulations.”

That stops Johnny in his tracks. “Wait, no,” he says. “You’re the level headed one here. You’re supposed to tell me that I’m being irrational because people don’t fall in love in like, six weeks time.”

Jaehyun sighs, sounding the tiniest bit exasperated. “Love isn’t something that happens on a set schedule, Johnny. You’re a writer. You should know that. Sometimes people get married after knowing each other for like a month. When you know, you know. I decided I was going to marry Doyoung after our first date, remember?”

“You were nineteen and dumb,” Johnny reminds him.

“Ten years later, and he still makes me dumb sometimes,” Jaehyun says, smiling dopily. “But seriously, my heart knew what it wanted. I think yours does, too.”

“You’re a sap,” Johnny sighs.

“Yeah, and? Let me guess, the hopelessly romantic side of you is telling you that you need to make some sort of grand gesture before you can be truly in love with someone,” Jaehyun says shrewdly. “Right?”

Johnny nods. “I think maybe you could say that, yeah.”

“Well, wouldn’t you say writing a book for someone is just that?”

“Oh,” Johnny breathes, sitting down in one of Jaehyun’s office chairs. “I guess I would.”

“There you go,” Jaehyun says, smiling again. “You good now?”

“Yeah,” Johnny nods. “I’m great, even.”

Jaehyun snorts. “In that case, get out of my office. I have work to do, and I bet you do, too.”

"Yeah," Johnny nods, standing up. "I do. I should probably like. Email the draft to my publisher already."

"Mmm, yeah," Jaehyun agrees. "By the way, are you aware that you've got a bruise on your neck?"

Johnny shrugs. He knows. He's not blind, after all; he'd seen it in the mirror this morning pretty damn clearly. He just doesn't care. Jaehyun must be able to tell, because his amused chuckle follows Johnny down the hallway when he leaves.

* * *

Johnny’s publisher doesn’t get back to him about his new manuscript right away, which he’d been expecting. The wait is still torturous—Johnny is most definitely not what you would call a patient man—but this, at least, is normal. He knows how to deal with this kind of waiting, has gotten used to it over the years.

At first, Johnny had been trying not to add to it just in case his publisher had hated him, but then Doyoung's words about how someone else would trip over themselves to publish it if his current publishing house turned it down come back to him. Although he still doesn't write with the same fervor he had in the weeks beforehand, he still manages to knock out an additional four chapters during his downtime, which is suddenly a lot less than it used to be.

He'd introduced Taeil to Jaehyun and Doyoung two nights after he'd told Jaehyun about his feelings for Taeil, which meant that Johnny had had to deal with the knowing looks Jaehyun was (subtly, at least) shooting him the entire time, but it had been worth it for the way that they'd both immediately taken to Taeil. Johnny may be in love with him, but Jaehyun and Doyoung's opinions mean a lot to him; he'd hate it if his best friends hated the person he's dating.

Taeil had returned the favor the next night, introducing Johnny to his roommates Taeyong and Yuta, who are so grossly in love that Johnny had felt like a third wheel more than once even though they clearly hadn't meant for that to happen. Taeil had whispered to him at one point that they've never left the honeymoon phase, which was obvious to anyone with eyes and ears, but Johnny hadn't been bothered by it. Far from it, actually. Johnny had left Taeil’s apartment that night wondering if they’d act like that when they became official, if they’d be more like Jaehyun and Doyoung and begin acting like an old married couple within a scant few months, or if they’d find their own path unique to them.

(Honestly, the romantic in Johnny hopes it’s the latter, even if he’d never admit it out loud to a soul. Well, maybe he’d tell Taeil, if pressed. But it’s not like Taeil would know that’s something he should ask. Probably.)

In Johnny’s opinion, they’re boyfriends in everything but name right now, considering that they've spent eight of the last ten nights together, both of them finding reason after reason to spend as much time together as humanly possible. They just haven't had that excruciating _so what are we?_ talk yet, and at this point, Johnny's almost afraid to burst this idyllic bubble they're in. So, for now, Taeil's just the person he's dating, and Johnny's mostly fine with that.

Nine days after Johnny sends his new manuscript off to his publisher, his phone rings just before lunch. He makes the mistake of answering it without checking to see who it is at first; he’d been thinking of calling Taeil to see if he had time to meet up for lunch and hadn’t even thought to do so. Which is to say, he’s caught off guard when he hears the voice of the head of the publishing house.

“Did I catch you at a bad time?” she asks worriedly.

“That depends on what you’re about to say,” Johnny tells her bluntly.

She laughs, which is probably a good sign, Johnny thinks. “Yeah, I can get that. So...this draft you’ve sent is very different than anything you’ve written before, huh.”

“Yes,” Johnny answers, refusing to beat around the bush right now. Either she likes it, or she doesn’t; there’s no need to play games right now, in his opinion.

She must realize he’s not willing to engage the way she wants him to right now, because she sighs heavily. “Well. Anyway. We love the book, Johnny. Since it’s so different than what you’ve written before, we want you to publish it under a pseudonym, so new readers aren’t scared off by your normal fare, but we want to enter into a contact for the publishing rights. We’re willing to go as far as to give you a larger advance than normal.”

“Obviously I would need to have my lawyer go over any contract first,” Johnny says, stunned. He’s thankful he’d been sitting down when the phone rang, or else his knees might have given out on him.

“We’ve been in contact with your lawyer already this morning,” she tells him, and Johnny knows he’s not imagining the way her voice goes a little icy. Jaehyun must have implied that he was considering shopping the draft to other publishing houses, then, and Johnny smiles. 

“I still need to talk to him before I commit to anything,” Johnny replies. “But I’m sure it won’t take him and I that long to go through it, if you’ve already talked to him.”

“Of course,” she says. “Take your time, this isn’t an offer that has an expiration date. I do hope to hear from you soon though, Johnny,” she says sincerely, disconnecting the call before Johnny can say goodbye himself. He’s not offended, though. It’s just how she is.

Johnny grabs his keys and wallet out of the bowl he keeps them in next to his front door, intending to drive to Jaehyun’s office to ask him about the contract for the draft. Instead, he finds himself parking in front of Taeil’s studio half an hour later, needing to share the news with him before he does Jaehyun. Jaehyun knows about it, anyway.

Luckily for Johnny, the studio’s between classes when he bursts through the door, only Taeil and Taeyong to be found. They both freeze when Johnny enters, although that’s probably because he made a lot of noise and startled them more than anything else, he thinks.

“Taeil,” Johnny breathes out.

Taeil pushes himself off the edge of the counter he’d been perched on. “Johnny? Is everything okay?”

Johnny nods quickly. “Yeah. Yes. Everything’s great, actually. I just got off the phone with the head of my publisher.”

“Oh,” Taeil says, face lighting up in understanding. “So they liked the book?”

“Loved it, it seems like,” Johnny tells him. 

“Well, of course they did,” Taeil says, heated. “They’d have to be fucking idiots to not like it, honestly, it’s the best thing I think I’ve ever read and it’s not even finished yet—”

“I love you,” Johnny blurts out, and he swears that time stops for a solid few seconds while everyone, himself included, registers what he just said.

Taeyong’s the first to react, muttering a clearly intentionally audible _oh my god_ before all but leaping out of his chair and bolting from the room, leaving Johnny alone with Taeil. 

Taeil looks up at him, a faint blush spreading across his cheeks, and Johnny can feel his heart pounding in his chest. “You love me?” he asks, softer than Johnny’s ever heard him speak before.

“Yeah,” Johnny confirms. He’s already put it out there, there’s absolutely no point in denying it now. He knows that Taeil’s not going to stomp all over his poor heart, which is enough for him. I’m _in_ love with you, actually. I know it hasn’t even been two months and it’s kinda crazy, but—”

“Hey,” Taeil interrupts him. “I’m in love with you too, so watch who you’re calling crazy here.”

“Oh,” Johnny says, sucking in a deep breath. “Okay.”

“Yeah. Okay,” Taeil echoes, beaming. “Also, you’ve waited too long, so I’m gonna ask you now. Be my boyfriend.”

“That wasn’t a question,” Johnny teases, moving so that he can wrap his arms around the other man.

“I didn’t think it needed to be at this point,” Taeil retorts, and Johnny laughs, burying his face into Taeil’s hair. It smells like Johnny’s own shampoo and something that’s just _Taeil_ , and he can’t help but smile as he moves, tilting Taeil’s head up so he can kiss him. He can _feel_ Taeil smiling into the kiss, and Johnny can’t help but think that if home is a person, he’s finally found the place where he belongs.

**Author's Note:**

> UIL competition = academic team competition


End file.
